Mail canceling and distributing device.



P. DANZER.

MAIL CANUELING AND DISTRIBUTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.17, 1913.

1,085,407. Patented Jan. 27, 19M

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPN CO..WASMINGTON. D. C.

P. DANZER.

MAIL CANCELING AND DISTRIBUTING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APR.17, 1913.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQEE.

FRANK DANZER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

MAIL CANCELING AND DISTRIBUTING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK DANZER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of Vayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail Canceling and Distributing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a mail canceling and distributing device, and has for its object an improved device of this type adapted to permit the insertion of a letter or other flat mailed article in the mouth of a chute or guideway, by whose slant or curvature it is directed to an external receptacle at the desired place, contemporaneously with the cancellation of each individual piece of mail matter with the characters desired, the mechanism which eifects this also serving to advance the letter into the chute by the frictional engagement of a roller thereagainst and depositing the letter in the receiving box properly stacked and ready for further distribution by rail or by carrier.

In the drawings :F igure 1 is a perspective from a point Well above the plane of the table top. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation along the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation of one of the printing and advancing rollers employed. Fig. 4 is an end elevation, partly in section, of this roller. Fig. 5 is an elevational View of the device, with its outer corner partly broken away to show the interior arrangement of parts, located inside a wagon top.

A indicates a sorting table, in whose top are cut a number of slits B, of suitable size to receive an envelop. This top is either entirely removable or hinged along one edge so that it can be raised to expose the top portions of a. number of guideways or chute members C, which terminate sufiiciently below the plane of the table top to enable the sides or edges of the individual slits B to support in practically upright position an envelop that is thrust therethrough, the further downward progress of the envelop through the chute being temporarily prevented by the presence of a printing roller G, whose peripheral edge is in loose frictional engagement with the somewhat yielding metal wall of the chute member. The several rollers G, one appurtenant to each slit and chute member, are mounted on rotatable shafts H, which receive their actuation through some such medium as the endless Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 17, 1913.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914. Serial No. 761,650.

chain J, whose gear wheels K are mounted so as to receive power from some such external member as the pulley or clutch piece L. These rollers are preferably provided with type spaces M in which removable type N, indicating the place and date of mailing or delivery of the letter may be inserted as desired; they are inked by the engagement thereagainst of the idler inking rollers Q- Since the presence of the rollers and chute tops appreciably beneath the table top enables various slits therein to hold the letters in substantially vertical position, and in just the position needed for etlicient seizure and advancement past the yielding chute wall, because of the rotation of the roller, no further motion than what is required to drop the letter in a letter case is needed to start the same on its way through the chute, fully canceled, and the chutes being curved or bent as they extend downwardly from the apertured table top causes the delivery of the letters traveling therealong into some one of the receptacles D in flat, face upward position; access to these receptacles is had from without through the doors E.

It is of course entirely within the scope of my invention to employ a pair of oppositely rotating rollers between which a letter is drawn into the more nearly central portion of the top of the chute, neither side of which it touches until it has passed below the rollers.

This device is especially adapted for use on railroad cars or motor wagons used for the distribution of mail among the various sub-stations in a city, and in such case the power for causing the rotation of the rollers is preferably taken by means of a ack shaft or endless belt from the main power shaft of the vehicle. It is, however, equally adapted for stationary use in a building, power being transmitted thereto in any manner desired.

What I claim is 1. In combination with a plurally apertured table top, chute members whose upper ends register with one or the other of said apertures and whose lower portions inc-line away from one another, independent receptacles located at the delivery ends of said chute members, and a corresponding number of printing roller members located adjacent the several apertures in the table top and close to one of the walls of the adjacent chute, each roller adapted to frictionally cngage a fiat article manually forced between its periphery and its adjacent chute wall, and to positively advance its progress through the chute and toward the receptacle at the end thereof, substantially as described.

2. In a mail canceling and distributing device, the combination of a plurality of inclined chute members whose small upper ends are located closely adjacent to one another, a corresponding number of diversely located receptacles into which the delivery ends of said chute members lead, and a series of power-rotated printing rollers adjacent the upper ends of the chute members, each roller being adapted to cooperate with one wall of its chute member in frictionally engaging a fiat article forced between its periphery and the chute wall, to positively force the same along the chute and toward the receptacle at the end thereof, substantially as described.

3. A mail canceling and distributing device, comprising a series of chute members whose inlet ends are located in close proximity to one another, and whose outlet ends incline away from one another to suitably located receptacles, a corresponding series of roller members journaled adjacent the inlet ends of the several chute members, adapted to frictionally engage a flat article manually forced between a chute wall and the peripheral surface of its adjacent roller and to draw the same into the chute through which its travel is intended, contemporaneously printing selected characters 0 the surface thereof, and a power shaft from which said roller members derive their actuation, substantially as described. I

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK DANZER. Witnesses:

WILLIAM M. SWAIN, JEFFERSON Gr. THURBER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

